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EERY SILENCE. “However, there might be a human mammary pheromone, suggested by the response of human babies to secretions from any lactating mother, not just their own. Babies suck in response to secretions from the areola gland around the nipple. These are being chemically investigated and, if the early observations are substantiated, could lead to the identification of the first human pheromone.” https://lnkd.in/drx5_4e View in LinkedIn

HUMAN PHEROMONES. “This ever interesting question remains unresolved. Sadly, though widely offered for sale, the putative human sex ‘pheromones’ androstadienone and estratetraenol (and androstenol and androstenone) have never been properly demonstrated to be pheromones. This has not stopped many studies claiming to show such effects, likely to be false positives since there are no reasons to even suspect these molecules are pheromones.” https://lnkd.in/drx5_4e View in LinkedIn

SEXUAL SURROGATES. “Plants too can use chemical trickery. Orchids have flowers that mimic the look and pheromones of a particular female bee or wasp species. The male insect attempts to mate, picks up a pollen package, and having been fooled once, is fooled again, delivering the package to a second orchid of the same species.” https://lnkd.in/drx5_4e View in LinkedIn

COUNTERFEIT LURES. “Similarly, other species can counterfeit signals. The female bolas spider lures male moths within reach of her sticky ‘bolas’ by synthesising convincing moth pheromones. She produces different pheromone blends through the night to match the different peak flight times of her victim moth species.” https://lnkd.in/drx5_4e View in LinkedIn

SECONDARY GAINS. “Broadcast signals like pheromones can be ‘eavesdropped’. When researchers in California put out traps to fieldtest bark beetle aggregation pheromones (which attract conspecifics of both sexes), they were surprised to also catch 600,000 predatory beetles. It was later found that the predators had evolved olfactory receptors highly sensitive to their prey’s pheromones.” View in LinkedIn

FUTURE PEST CONTROLS. “So far, pest moths and beetles have been the main targets. In the future, nematodes and insect vectors of disease might be managed by their pheromones. Lampreys which ravage Great Lake fisheries might soon be lured into traps by their pheromones. Rodent pheromones might one day replace toxic rodenticides.” https://lnkd.in/drx5_4e View in LinkedIn